Laws, Brothers and a Birthday Gift
by ObscureTwin
Summary: On the night of his 15th birthday, Saga thinks about how he should handle Kanon and his plans to betray Sanctuary. Saga-centric, guest starring Sagittarius Aioros.


**"Laws, Brothers, and a Birthday Gift"**

by Philotas Parmeneides

**Warnings:** Nothing much to beware of. G-rated fic. A bit of angst, maybe.

**Notes:** This is another Saga vignette, this time dealing with the inner turmoil the Gemini saint experiences the night of his 15th birthday, trying to decide if he should or not punish Kanon for his plans of treason. Fortunately, Aioros comes in and saves his night, if not much else.

It's half chara study, like the previous one, and half celebration of the twins' birthday, which is today (05/30).

Before reading this fic, you should be aware that I completely made up the fact that Kanon and Saga were separated at birth, and the reason why that occurred. The only canon fact that the manga/anime provide is that at Sanctuary nobody knew of Kanon's existence.

I simply imagined that the Holy Father, Shion, separated them at birth because of a prophecy that wanted them as harbingers of misfortune for Sanctuary. I also imagined that they would meet by chance (or fate, more accurately) only later, at the age of ten.

Another reasoning behind the story is that, being born within Sanctuary, there would be no record of Kanon and his parents' existence in the outer world. Basically they'd be phantoms in society, with no name and no right to social security or anything of the sort, hence the possibility for the parents to die of disease and starvation in modern times and in a fairly rich state like Greece. I had to give Kanon a reason for hating Athena so much. With the developments in the Hades chapters, I hope you will agree with me that a character like him can't be inherently evil.

I am going to use this made-up version of the facts surrounding the twins in my larger fic, _Panpolemos_. With this intro done, please enjoy the story.

**Disclaimer:** If I owned them, I'd be called Athena!

* * *

Saga sat on the edge of the cliff, his feet dangling into the void. He ignored the rocks' sharp edges cutting off the circulation in his cotton-clad legs. His eyes settled on Athens, stretched out below him with all of its wonders and miseries. In the dark, the city lights looked like a mantle of stars fallen off the skies. A fine mask for such an inhospitable place.

He had once more trespassed from Sanctuary's grounds into the outer world, in spite of the prohibition to leave the great temple unless forced to or on a mission. He hadn't ignored the rule since five years before.

At the time, the little childish escapade had brought him face to face with a few unpleasant truths about Sanctuary and the way it was run. That night, the night he turned ten years old, he had met the brother he didn't know he had. Tonight he was turning fifteen, and sitting on the edge of the cliff he was considering whether or not he should kill Kanon.

The laws were clear. Treason was a crime punishable by death. Aioros had confirmed him as much earlier that day, quoting the paragraph as it appeared in the manuscripts that dated back to the age of myth. His fellow saint's confirmation had been superfluously provided upon his request, even if he knew the laws by heart.

Saga was not surprised by his own unwillingness to become his brother's executioner. Who would purposely put an end to their sibling's life? But when Kanon was concerned, things tended to stray from the ordinary.

The Gemini saint tried to remember if there had been signs from the start that his twin would turn in such a vicious character, but his memory confirmed that ten years old Kanon, with his ragged clothes and dirty face, had simply looked defeated and lonely on the day of their fated meeting.

What unsettled him the most, however, was not that his brother murmured words of betrayal in his ears. It was the way some of Kanon's thoughts mirrored his own that made him shudder. He wished he could have Aioros' naivety and believe in the Goddess blindly, but those days of blissful ignorance were hopelessly lost for Saga.

How much injustice had been perpetrated in the name of Athena, in the name of any god? He didn't want to think about it. He tried to repeat to himself that it was not the deity, but the men acting in Her name, twisting Her will out of interest or misunderstanding.

Yet his mind couldn't be eased by such a ready excuse. If the Goddess was indeed so flawless and faultless, how did she allow a few men to do as they pleased, and others to die without purpose, all in Her name? Saga was used to enduring hardship, he was a saint and sufferance did not frighten him. However, he couldn't think about being purposely deprived of his family lightly.

According to the Holy Father's records, which he had consulted secretly and taking great risk, fifteen years before the stars had told the high priest that a pair of twins would be born among the villagers of Sanctuary, and that together they would bring misfortune to the temple and even endanger Athena. Shion had sent Kanon and his parents, Saga's parents, in exile, where they had died of illness and starvation in the harsh outer world. Only him had been kept and turned him into a saint. For what purpose, he could not tell. The old man's manuscripts only mentioned that his cosmo was already manifest at the time.

The main point was that the order to ban his family and doom them to a beggar's life couldn't have been given by the Athena, he was sure of it. He was still reluctant to think blasphemously of Her. He wanted to believe in Her, even if his faith could no longer be complete and unconditional as in his earlier days. The Holy Father had come up by himself with a quick solution for a problem he was not willing to face.

Saga didn't know where that left him. Should he blame Shion? Should he resent Athena? Or should he accept and forgive? He had lost his parents without even knowing them, his brother had grown up in the suburbs of Athens, making it to next day through stealing and rummaging in the litter. Was Kanon really to blame for his hate of Athena? The name of the Goddess was associated to nothing but pain for him.

However, his brother was still a threat that couldn't be ignored. Perhaps the prophecy about him and Saga hadn't been inaccurate, but it would never be fulfilled, not if the Gemini saint had a say in the matter.

Saga had thought about talking to Shion of Kanon's presence at Sanctuary and reveal his twin's plans, but he couldn't trust the Holy Father to give his brother a fair trial, not after what had happened fifteen years before. Exile had only been a quick and clean remedy, and there was no doubt Kanon would be killed without a second thought if his presence was discovered. There was even a possibility that Saga himself would be accused of treason.

The Gemini saint ignored the insidious voice in his mind, telling him that keeping his brother hidden already made him a traitor, and that another step down that lane couldn't hurt. He was a gold saint. He served justice and the Goddess. In that order. And that was the problem. Was Athena really just?

He realized with shame that he was straying from the main point. Should Kanon live, or should he die?

He honestly didn't want to lose his brother, no matter how dangerous he was. Still, Kanon seemed hell-bent on doing away with the Holy Father and the infant incarnation of the Goddess that was said to be due any day, and seize power for himself. He had offered Saga equal power in exchange for his cooperation.

Of course, betraying Sanctuary was out of the question, he repeated to himself forcefully, silencing the seductive whisper of ambition in his mind. And he didn't want Kanon to commit such a sin either.

That left him with very little to decide. His twin had to be stopped, but how?

"What an interesting expression. Did you pull a muscle or something? You always drive yourself too hard with your training."

Saga jumped to his feet and swirled around at the sound of the intruder's voice. He relaxed immediately, however, recognizing his fellow saint Aioros in the stranger who had approached him. He almost blushed at his failure to recognize him earlier, through cosmo or otherwise.

"Aioros, what are you doing here?" he asked defensively.

"I could ask you the same thing" Aioros replied, smiling with mischief before turning extremely serious. "You've been acting so odd lately. Is something troubling you?"

For a moment, Saga felt the urgency to spill his heart to Aioros, but he quickly recovered from it. If he could expect anything of the Sagittarius saint, that was absolute devotion to the Goddess and Sanctuary. Telling him about Kanon would translate into the quick death of his brother.

"Nothing important. So, did you break the rules just to talk to me? I am flattered."

"You see, this is what I mean. This sarcasm is not how you are. There's something wrong. Let me help you, Saga. Please."

The Gemini saint barely repressed the urge to laugh out loud at that comment. Not how he was? Ah, Aioros thought he knew him so well… Yet that had been true, at some point, earlier in time. When had that changed? Why had he allowed their friendship to become hollow on his part? Saga suddenly felt ashamed of himself, of the way he had always looked down at the generous, genuine boy standing in front of him.

"When I'll figure it out myself, you'll be the first to know" he replied quietly.

Aioros seemed satisfied with the answer, and underlined that with a sound slap on Saga's back. Really, he was the only one who ever touched Saga that way. Usually Gemini was irritated by the familiarity, but tonight he found it comforting.

"To answer your question, I broke the rules for you, alright. It's almost midnight."

Saga blinked, uncomprehending.

"Well, at midnight it won't be the thirtieth anymore, and I'd have missed your birthday, so I had to come looking for you."

Aioros pulled a bag from behind a nearby rock and handed it over to his fellow saint. Saga stared at the sack in wonder for a moment before taking it and looking inside.

"I'm sorry I was so late… I wanted to finish the chiselling."

It was a training pauldron, evidently a replacement for the one Aioros himself had accidentally annihilated three weeks before during a particularly harsh training spar.

The bronze piece of armory had clearly been crafted by inexpert hands, but it did possess and certain rough beauty. Saga thought that in the age of myth, when metallurgy was not as developed as it was today, common armors probably had that look. He felt a smile pulling at the corner of his lips.

"I really appreciate it" he said honestly "though you shouldn't have put yourself through so much trouble."

Aioros shrugged dismissively. He really didn't think it was such a big deal.

"No trouble at all. I did destroy your other one, so… I'm sorry I couldn't come up with anything more creative. The decoration is more Aioria's doing than mine, to be honest. I crafted it, but he made the design. So that's a gift from the both of us."

"How is Aioria's training going?"

"He should be allowed to take the final trial when the sun shifts into Leo, on the twenty-third of July. He is certainly strong enough, but I think he is still too young. The Holy Father insists, however. He wants the Twelve Temples fully covered before Athena's reincarnation appears. It will be hard for Aioria, but I know he can make it."

Saga nodded in acknowledgement, keeping a neutral expression. In spite of his precocity, he had received his cloth at twelve, a more or less common age for becoming a saint. Aioria, however, wouldn't even be seven years old, if he made it. Was it right to entrust a child with such a responsibility?

More importantly, was it right to ask a child to bear such a burden? It felt wrong, somehow. Yet he and Aioros were the only ones who could be considered young men by any regular standard. All the other Gold Saints were more or less Aioria's age, with the exception of Shura, Death Mask, and Aphrodite, who were around ten years old.

Couldn't the Goddess take adults for the job and leave children to play, like they were meant to by nature? Was there really no one else available? What sort of deity would shield herself with children?

Saga shook his head, trying to push those thoughts aside. He looked again at the pauldron. On the underside, there was his name engraved in ancient Greek, and a small dedication from the crafter. The letters looked funny and crooked, but the sentence could still be read with ease.

"To Saga, for his fifteenth birthday. May each passing year be happier than the previous one. Aioros."

Tears threatened to form in his eyes. Aioros' good wish couldn't have been more off the mark. The year ahead of him was going to be probably the worst ever, and he suspected that it would go downhill from there.

"Aioros?"

"Yes?"

"If Aioria… if he did something terrible, something that went against the laws of Sanctuary, what would you do?"

The Sagittarius Saint frowned at the question, clearly disturbed. After a long pause, however, he did provide the answer Saga was expecting.

"Even with death in my heart, I'd submit him to the judgement of Sanctuary and let him harvest the consequences of his actions. I'd probably try to justify him and ask for a merciful punishment, but the laws must be respected. Why do you ask me that? Has Aioria done something that I am not aware of?"

As he didn't know of Kanon's existence, Aioros' question wasn't wholly unexpected, but the Sagittarius saint clearly asked it with the certainty of receiving a negative answer. Saga envied him for a moment. What would it be like, to be able to trust your brother so completely?

"Of course not" he answered reassuringly. "It was just an hypothetical scenario. After all, it is demanded of us that we sacrifice everything for our duty to the Goddess. Family ties are… a complication."

"I don't see it that way. Aioria and I both understand our duties, and take comfort from their harshness in one another. Together, we are stronger than separate."

Saga was able to find a small relief in those words. He and Kanon would probably never be able to have the kind of bond Aioros described. And in that rested his salvation.

The prophecy of the twins said that, together, they would bring about misfortune and darkness. But since they were not "together", not in the ways that truly mattered, Sanctuary and Athena were safe. Saga could remain silent about Kanon's plans. Perhaps he wouldn't even need to take any kind of action against his sibling. There was no real danger after all.

Inaction wasn't a honorable solution for a saint to face a problematic situation, but that convoluted reasoning had given him the justification he needed to lay off Kanon for a while longer, and that was enough for him.

Saga smiled at Aioros, and gestured for him to follow in the direction of Sanctuary.

"Come, my friend. Let me treat you to a late night snack. I just received a small jar of ntolmas from the village, I have been guaranteed that it's the best made this decade."

Aioros returned his smile and nodded, following him up the steep slope to the great temple, pretending he hadn't noticed Saga mentioning betrayal, and the consequences of it, for the second time that day.

* * *

Author's notes: Ntolmas is a traditional Greek preserve (marmalade) made with a kind of pumpkin and flavoured with bergamot. Woah, this is the second Saga piece I wrote in the turn of a week… I am not entirely happy with it, though I can't point out the reasons at present. Maybe I'll let it rest a little and then revise it in a few days. C&C anyone?


End file.
